Posts Tagged ‘concerts’
What A Way To End May With Kelp 20 – S09E38
May was definitely a fun month with Ottawa Comiccon, a fashion show, a bit of Chinatown Remixed and having to go to Niagara Falls and Toronto. Also, an interesting Creative Mornings Ottawa talk from the past week.
On the last day of May, Kelp Records held their 20th anniversary bash over at St. Albans Church in downtown Ottawa. The Ottawa-based record label has survived and thrived for very long ever since the emergence of digital music in recent times. Kelp helped bring musicians and bands from the likes of Jim Bryson, The Acorn, and various Ottawa artists to the forefront.
The concert from Saturday night consisted of Flecton Big Sky, Andy Swan, Banditas, Chris Page, Evening Hymns, Andrew Vincent, Jim Bryson, The Acorn and Recoilers.
At the show, it was great to see people that I know and you see a few instant photos from below. It was the last time to see the CBC’s Amanda Putz as she’s heading off to the Netherlands. The sad news for the past month was the job cuts and program cancellations to the CBC. It was a privilege to get to know Amanda as I did not know at the time that she was doing work at RTHK and connected to a radio host who I have been listening to. Prior to getting into Canadian indie music and listening to mostly Hong Kong radio, I had been listening to Bandwidth on and off when I was in the car going to places.
It’s definitely an end of an era and Amanda Putz will be missed as she championed Ontario music on the fine radio program on Saturday afternoons.
The photo above was used on the pre-release of Impossible Project’s Gen 2.0 600 Color Film.
You can view the photos from the show over at this link (via Flickr). Apologies on the quality as I’m still working out the kinks of the Fujifilm X-A1 camera.
Happy birthday to Kelp Records!
Lastly, since it’s June, I will be wrapping up for the season on the blog in the upcoming weeks.
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Jessy Lanza at Mercury Lounge – S09E33
What a way to end April on a soggy note. Things weren’t too bad as I went to Mercury Lounge on Wednesday night for Jessy Lanza. On a previous entry, Lanza’s opener was suppose to be Ricky Eat Acid but due to a change, it was local DJ, Jas Nasty who helped spin groovy tunes on a rainy Wednesday night. Overall, it was a great show and there was a good turnout as the crowd enjoyed and danced to the electro-R&B tunes from Lanza. I was checking on Instagram and someone said that she sounded like the late Aaliyah’s secret love child.
It was also good to see people from the likes of Eventful Capital and a few members of Fevers attend the event.
As usual, you can view some photos below. There’s two black & white instant photos that I shot and it was used by The Impossible Project.
Kudos goes out to Pop Montreal (pennant shown on the photo) and Arboretum Festival for holding an awesome show.
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The NXNE 2013 Wrap-Up with Chris Ho & Crissi Cochrane – S08E45
It was the second year to go to the big smoke, Toronto for NXNE. I definitely had a great time there and unfortunately, I ended up blowing out my left knee as I had to limp around from place to place. Blame it on carrying a shoulder bag full of cameras and an audio recorder. It was painful but was able to manage through the weekend. Here’s my description of events. Apologies if this is a very long blog entry for this week.
Friday (June 14, 2013)
The first band to check out was at Urban Outfitters on Queen St. W and it was the Vancouver Electronic band, Bear Mountain. I found out on Twitter from a fellow CBC R3 fan and a photographer that she and a couple of people were going to Urban Outfitters to see the band live. They were definitely good to check out for anyone that likes Electronic music.
Later on, I went to the CBC Broadcasting Centre to kill time and unexpectedly bumped into one of the members of The Matinee. By then, it was time for the CBC Music Presents The Beetle Roadtrip Sessions finale party at the Glenn Gould Studio. It was great to see the CBC Radio 3 fans/bloggers and some for the first time in person as I interacted on the R3 website, Facebook and Twitter. I finally got to meet Lana Gay as she’s one of the hosts I’ve interacted online but never got to meet in person as she was previously in Vancouver and has recently moved to Toronto. The Darcys performed for the finale party as well and played some of their hits. Bands from The Matinee, Shred Kelly and Hollerado showed up at the party. There was a funny moment when CBC Radio 3 host, Grant Lawrence did a crowd surf entrance from outside the CBC and inside Glen Gould Studio.
After the party, I tagged along with several people to go see k-os but found out we went to wrong location. Some of the guys were goofing off at Harbourfront and that’s when my knee starting buckling up. Some of us splited up and went with two people (Eric and Brenda) to check out The National. Unfortunately, it was very packed getting to Yonge-Dundas Square. Then I tagged along with Brenda to go see… Sloan! For the life of me, I felt like a newbie to see Sloan as I never got to see them live. They played at The Great Hall and crowds were packed to see them.
Afterwards, I went down to Blk Box to see Still Life Still and Gold & Youth. I didn’t stay for all of Gold & Youth as my knee was getting pretty sore.
Photos
Shows from Friday can seen over at this link via Flickr.
The CBC Music Present The Beetle Roadtrip Sessions finale party photos can be seen over at this link.
Photos on my Facebook Page can be seen at this link.
Playing Canadian Bands & Musicians with Asian Backgrounds – S07E37
It’s now May and a brand new month but first thing to mention, I had a great time on Monday night at the Ottawa International Writers Festival for the All In A Day Songwriters Circle: The Stage Name Summit. From the photo shown above, there was Masia One with DJ 2 Creamz and CBC’s Alan Neal. Other performers for the songwriters circle who attended were Snailhouse, Oh Susanna, Socalled and Joe Keithley (from the punk-rock band, DOA). Out of the five performers, the ones I’m familiar with were Masia and Snailhouse since I usually see them from time to time and been a great supporter to their works.
Overall, it was nice to watch the performers be witty among one another and giving their best performances to the audience on the final night of Writers Festival. The photos will be posted below.
The SOCAN Edition
Wednesday’s radio show was SOCAN week and to be unique, I decided to play Canadian bands and musicians with Asian backgrounds as May is Asian Heritage Month. It was a bit difficult finding a Canadian musician with Asian descent but I was able to pull through the live show. On the first part of the show, the new song by Metric got played and as usual, the Wild 10 Countdown with a new number one song to begin May.
The playlist is over at this link.
Audio/Radio Show
The May 2nd Radio Show – Press play to listen.
Photos from the All In A Day Songwriters Circle
It Was a Fabulous and Fun Friday – S07E17
I had a great time going to some events on December 16, 2011. To begin, I found out through Twitter that Arcade Fire released a music video to a favourite song that everyone loves from The Suburbs, it was Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains). I couldn’t stop watching and listening to the song.
The next exciting part was attending CBC All In A Day for Share Central at Ben Franklin Place. Performing there were Kool Krys and Natalia & Montuno. It was nice to see Kool Krys as I gave her the wonderful Kanpe Tea for DAVIDsTEA. In return, she gave me her second album, Listen To Your Art. Overall, I had a good time there and had a Beavertail.
Last but not least, I headed over to Raw Sugar Cafe to see Joey Wright and Rolf Klausener (of The Acorn) for a show. It was a good show filled with funny humour and not so keen language.
You can view the photos from below.
Oh yeah, since I didn’t post an entry for Wednesday, the radio show from Wednesday will be posted. I played part 1 of my Top 50 of 2011. The playlist is over at this link via CKCU-FM.
Audio/Radio Show
The December 14th Radio Show – Press play to listen.
Photos
CBC All In A Day – Share Central
Raw Sugar Cafe – Joey Wright and Rolf Klausener
The Dan Mangan and Braids Interviews – S07E09
It was quite a weekend as Lauren and myself got to interview Dan Mangan on Friday. It was great to see Mangan again and it was thrilling for my co-host to interview him. Mangan is very popular in the Canadian music realm and the release of Oh Fortune, his third album, has cemented it. Overall, it was a nice time to chat with Mangan. I wasn’t alone to interviewing Mangan, the crew from Apartment613 were there to interview him with video equipment in tow. I’m waiting to see their article on him. Lastly, it’s cool to take a Polaroid photo with Mangan as it’s posted above.
The next day, I had the opportunity to interview Braids but without my co-host. It was a fun interview as well. On Sunday, there was another interview I did, which will air in the future, that was Data Romance. They’re an electronic duo from Vancouver, British Columbia. It was quite jam packed for the weekend and there was The Sheepdogs in-store performance on Saturday. My co-host did go to the concert at Scotiabank Place as the Saskatoon band opened up for The Kings of Leon.
Aside from the excitement, Wednesday morning was not as exciting as the computers at CKCU-FM weren’t functioning. The Wednesday morning host (Special Blend) was in a bad mood when the equipments malfunctioned.
For the time being, the live airing of the radio show was not combined with the podcast version. What you will be hearing will be a full podcast edition of WildWorks. The live airing did not have Lauren joining me due to the fact that she couldn’t make it for the morning for the prerecording of the podcast.
You can listen to audio and interviews at the bottom. The Dan Mangan interview is not posted onto Soundcloud due to copyright issues.
This week’s playlist is posted at this link over at the CKCU-FM website.
The Wild 10 Countdown Summary for October 19th is at this link.
Audio/Interviews
The October 19th Podcast Show joined with Lauren B. – Press play to listen. Check Playlist.
The Dan Mangan Interview – Press play to listen or the interview without the songs being used.
The Braids Interview
The Post Pop Montreal Edition and Tackling Album Reviews – S07E04
This week’s edition is a post Pop Montreal edition. I was suppose to have Lauren join me on the show but she’s under the weather. As much I try not to play a lot of Arcade Fire songs, I couldn’t help my own excitement because of the music festival, which celebrated its 10th year.
With the media pass, it was privilege to go to O Patro Vys as they had a good lineup from Friday and Saturday night. There were a lot of choices to go to but I stuck with O Patro Vys because Ohbijou has a new album and the opening acts have a connection to one another. The Evening Hymns and Forest City Lovers are friends with Ohibjou. It was quite a surprise to check out Tasseomancy. They seem to have an influence to Bjork. One thing I forgot was that Tasseomancy are the touring members of Austra. I had a chance to watch the Polaris Music Prize on MuchMusic HD and I didn’t realize they performed at the gala.
Saturday night was quite an interesting one, after attending the Pop Vs. Jock charity basketball game, I rushed to O Patro Vys to find out the 8pm performance never happened. Although, I didn’t know Silver Creek, who they performed at around 9pm, are from Ottawa. I noticed several CKCU-FM hosts are supporters of the band. This brings to Gianna Lauren, as I saw her on back to back nights. It was nice to see her perform in Montreal. The funny thing was saving a spot for her parents, who’s a great supporter of her music career. By Divine Right came up next and they totally rocked out. Then, came Allie Hughes as I haven’t seen her in a year. The worse part, I didn’t get a chance to say hi or bye to her. Finally, Sheezer packed O Patro Vys and for any Weezer fans, they didn’t disappoint. Overall, I had a great time in Montreal and I know I wouldn’t stop gushing over Arcade Fire. Kudos to Pop Montreal for the great music festival they organized. It was a fun time.
Unfortunately, I did not get a chance to play a track from Evening Hymns, Silver Creek and Sheezer as I was not able to find their albums to provide on the radio show.
Don’t forget to listen to the radio show from below.
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The Arcade Fire Free Outdoor Show at POP Montreal – S07E03
It was a marvelous time at Place des Festivals/Quartier des Spectacles as Arcade Fire performed a free show in Montreal for Pop Montreal. It was an amazing time to be there as the band capped off an incredible year. Just days from winning the 2011 Polaris Music Prize, over a 100,000 crowds packed the place. The opening acts were Kid Koala and Karkwa. I totally forgot about Karkwa opening up for Arcade Fire. Both opening bands were great, Kid Koala played a few classic tracks with his own spin. Moon River was one and it sounded touching. Karkwa rocked out their set and their lead singer did say that they only sing in French as it’s a beautiful language.
As for Arcade Fire’s performance, it was definitely amazing! I kept singing along to all of the songs. There’s too many to list out as everyone would know all of their song since they’re recognizable.
My favourite, Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) was the final song and they had giant lighted beach balls bouncing through the crowds. I got bonked in the head several times as the balls kept flying around.
It was the best time enjoying all three acts in Montreal. Anyone from Montreal and Quebec should be proud at the band’s accomplishments and the free outdoor show was a way of giving thanks for the support.
Even though the attendance crowd is fluctuating from reports, here’s one from review from Spinner. It’s someone that I know of.
Who I got to see in Montreal?
I did not expect to see The Balconies earlier in the afternoon as I was hanging out at the Notman House. When I headed over to Place des Festivals in the mid-afternoon, I didn’t expect to bump into CBC Radio 3‘s Craig Norris and Steve Pratt. Briefly talked to them about Polaris Music Prize. It was great to see them.
From Storify, some of my tweets from the Arcade Fire outdoor show.
View “The Arcade Fire Free Outdoor Show for Pop Montreal on September 22, 2011″ on Storify
Photos
Summer Special 2011: Blue King Brown
I had the opportunity to chat with Natalie Pa’apa’a of Blue King Brown at Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest on Friday night. They are an Urban Roots band from Australia. It was nice to chat with an international band and have a good insight on other kinds music not in North America.
My experience of seeing them live was quite a surprise because I didn’t expect an energetic crowd. Kudos to the Bluesfest organizers for bringing an exciting band.
Afterwards, I rushed over to The Hard Rock Stage to see Hey Rosetta and unfortunately, the rain came and I only got to see the band play three songs. I had to go to the Canadian War Museum to get dried up. The sad part, I didn’t know Hey Rosetta resumed playing. Such a shame on my part.
Aside from that, you can listen to the interview with Natalie Pa’apa’a of Blue King Brown and the July 16th radio show summer edition.
Then there are photos I used from the iPod touch.
To check out the playlist, it’s at this link.
The Wild 10 Countdown for July 13th is at this link.
Audio/Podcast
The July 16th Summer edition radio show – press play to listen.
The Blue King Brown Interview
Photos
Summer Special 2011 – Canada Day
Since it’s a summer entry as the blog won’t be updated regularly for the Summer months. It will be less writing and more visuals.
It was a nice and sunny day in the Nation’s Capital on July 1st, Canada Day. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to see the Royal couple, William and Kate and then the fireworks. Here are photos that I took at the Ottawa Jazz Festival in the afternoon.
Enjoy!
Ruby Jean and The Thoughtful Bees at Ottawa Jazz Festival on Canada Day. Surprise to see Jenocide join Ruby Jean on the tour they’re embarking.
Ohbijou at Ottawa Jazz Festival on Canada Day
